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==Extra-biblical occurrences==  

==Extra-biblical occurrences==  

The two most principal areas of historical inquiry which have been studied by historians in relation to ancient occurrences of homosexuality are [[Greek Homosexuality|Greek homosexuality]] and [[Roman Homosexuality|Roman homosexuality]]. See also [[Romans 1]].  

The two most principal areas of historical inquiry which have been studied by historians in relation to ancient occurrences of homosexuality are [[Greek Homosexuality|Greek homosexuality]] and [[Roman Homosexuality|Roman homosexuality]]. See also [[Romans 1]].  

The largest amount of material pertinent to issues of sexuality is from Greece, from dialogues of Plato, such as the Symposium, to plays by Aristophanes, and Greek artwork and vases. James B. De Young notes that homosexuality seems to have existed more widely among the ancient Greeks more than among any other ancient culture. The main form of this was pederasty, a custom that seems to have been practiced mostly among the upper classes, in which an older man (the ''erastest'') would make a young free boy (the ''eromenos'') his sex partner, and become his mentor. This was regulated by the State as an institution. However, this practice was usually a supplement to marriage,<ref>Dover, K.J., Greek Homosexuality (Harvard University Press, 1989, as summarized in "Homosexuality," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, August 2002)</ref>  and thus is seen as being done by bisexuals. The practice of pederasty is mentioned in Homer's ''Illiad'', and is evidenced to have existed at least 4500 years ago in ancient Egypt.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZXAVf8m_HKgC&pg=PA322&lpg=PA322&dq=Plato%27s+Laws+636c&source=bl&ots=ZjVFYZcdwc&sig=qh8nqrP0-_GCl1p49MgogdYs7E8&hl=en&ei=0sUeSqOxIqbWlQfpnPjPBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=19 Homosexuality, By James B. DeYoung p. 322]</ref>  

The largest amount of material pertinent to issues of sexuality is from Greece, from dialogues of Plato, such as the Symposium, to plays by Aristophanes, and Greek artwork and vases. James B. De Young notes that homosexuality seems to have existed more widely among the ancient Greeks more than among any other ancient culture. The main form of this was pederasty, a custom that seems to have been practiced mostly among the upper classes, in which an older man (the ''erastest'') would make a young free boy (the ''eromenos'') his sex partner, and become his mentor. This was regulated by the State as an institution. However, this practice was usually a supplement to marriage,<ref>Dover, K.J., Greek Homosexuality (Harvard University Press, 1989, as summarized in "Homosexuality," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, August 2002)</ref>  and thus is seen as being done by bisexuals. The practice of pederasty is mentioned in Homer's ''Illiad'', and is evidenced to have existed at least 4500 years ago in ancient Egypt.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZXAVf8m_HKgC&pg=PA322&lpg=PA322&dq=Plato%27s+Laws+636c&source=bl&ots=ZjVFYZcdwc&sig=qh8nqrP0-_GCl1p49MgogdYs7E8&hl=en&ei=0sUeSqOxIqbWlQfpnPjPBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=19 Homosexuality, By James B. DeYoung p. 322]</ref>  

Yet the Greeks also practiced other forms of homoeroticism. Homosexual relations existed among equals, though it was considered problematic, as while the predominate man was considered to be masculine, the one who played the female role would be seen as inferior.<ref>John Boardman et al, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World, 1986, pp. 225-226.</ref> This role more likely pertained to slaves, or male youths who were not yet citizens.  

In the Amores  (''the loves'') of Lucian, an Assyrian rhetorician (125- approx. 180), which many think was written by another in a later period, and thus it is called, ''pseudo-Lucian'', extensive discourses are given on the subject of homosexual affections and relations. In Amores  10, Lycinus  describes the Athenian character Callicratidas as one who ''was well provided with handsome slave-boys and all of his servants were. pretty well beardless. They remained with him till the down first appeared on their faces, but, once any growth cast a shadow on their cheeks, they would be sent away to be stewards and overseers of his properties at Athens.''<ref>PSEUDO-LUCIAN, AFFAIRS OF THE HEART, 10</ref>  This man is set in contrast to the character Charicles who loves females, and who supports the cause of normal heterosexual passion, first most because of their ability to procreate.  

 

However, homosexual "orientation" is also indicated on the part of Callicratidas, at least toward boys, as in Amores 20 he is said to be reluctant to go to the temple of Aphrodite because he was going to see something female, while Charicles describes those who engage in homosexual sex as having "bought a little pleasure at the cost of great disgrace.'' Sternly reproving homosexuals he also states, ''With what blind insensibility have you engulfed your souls that you have missed the mark in both directions, avoiding what you ought to pursue, and pursuing what you ought to avoid?'' (22)

Charicles also laments those who attempted basic sex change operations through castration: ''The daring of some men has advanced so far in tyrannical violence as even to wreak sacrilege upon nature with the knife. By depriving males of their masculinity they have found wider ranges of pleasure. But those who become wretched and luckless in order to be boys for longer remain male no longer, being a perplexing riddle of dual gender, neither being kept for the functions to which they have been born nor yet having the thing into which they have been changed.'' (21)

 

For his Callicratidas forwards an polemic that is used today by homosexual apologists, that homosexuality was not seen in early times, "for intercourse with women was necessary so that our race might not utterly perish for lack of seed", (35) and postulates that doing away with martial relations would be a good thing, if children could be hand another way, lamenting the efforts women must go through to make themselves attractive.  Yet he sees the efforts that a child must go through as making him an attractive object of homosexual affection for all men. (38-46)

The famous philosopher [[Plato]] (427 B.C. - 346 B.C.) around 348 B.C. describes and implies the widespread practice of homosexuality, and advocates laws to regulate it.<ref>Laws 636a-c; 835-c; 836a-e; 838b-839b; 840de; 841de</ref> One of the most explicit records of disapproval of homosexuality is found in Laws 636c, in which Plato, speaking through the character of the Athenian stranger, describes homosexual relations as an "enormity" or "crime" (tolmema), and explains that it derives from being enslaved to pleasure. He plainly rejects homosexual behavior as "unnatural" (para physin), as “When male unites with female for procreation the pleasure experienced is held to be due to nature, but contrary to nature when male mates with male or female with female”.  Homosexuality is also described regarded as shameful by barbarians and by those who live under despotic governments.<ref>[http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/romans_malick.pdf David E. Malick, "The Condemnation of Homosexuality in Romans 1:26-27"]</ref><ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9406/opinion/opinion.html First Things, Peter L. Berger, Leadership U.]</ref>  

The famous philosopher [[Plato]] (427 B.C. - 346 B.C.) around 348 B.C. describes and implies the widespread practice of homosexuality, and advocates laws to regulate it.<ref>Laws 636a-c; 835-c; 836a-e; 838b-839b; 840de; 841de</ref> One of the most explicit records of disapproval of homosexuality is found in Laws 636c, in which Plato, speaking through the character of the Athenian stranger, describes homosexual relations as an "enormity" or "crime" (tolmema), and explains that it derives from being enslaved to pleasure. He plainly rejects homosexual behavior as "unnatural" (para physin), as “When male unites with female for procreation the pleasure experienced is held to be due to nature, but contrary to nature when male mates with male or female with female”.  Homosexuality is also described regarded as shameful by barbarians and by those who live under despotic governments.<ref>[http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/romans_malick.pdf David E. Malick, "The Condemnation of Homosexuality in Romans 1:26-27"]</ref><ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9406/opinion/opinion.html First Things, Peter L. Berger, Leadership U.]</ref>  

Additional sources in Plato's Symposium which evidence and advocate homosexuality in Greek culture, including some that speak of a predisposition towards it, include The Speech of Pausanias (181b-185c), The speech of Socrates (209c-d; 210e-211e). The Speech of Alcibiades (215a-222b). Selections from the Phaedrus (231c-240c) also give indications of how homosexuality was thought of in Greek philosophy.<ref>Young, Homosexuality, pp. 205-214</ref>

Additional sources in Plato's Symposium which evidence and advocate homosexuality in Greek culture, including some that speak of a predisposition towards it, include The Speech of Pausanias (181b-185c), The speech of Socrates (209c-d; 210e-211e). The Speech of Alcibiades (215a-222b). Selections from the Phaedrus (231c-240c) also give indications of how homosexuality was thought of in Greek philosophy.<ref>Young, Homosexuality, pp. 205-214</ref>

Attitudes toward homosexuality varied in Greece, as general strictures against same-sex eros existed in parts of Ionia, while in Elis and Boiotia (e.g., Thebes), it was approved of and sometimes celebrated.<ref>cf. Dover, 1989; Halperin, 1990</ref>   

Attitudes toward homosexuality varied in Greece, as general strictures against same-sex eros existed in parts of Ionia, while in Elis and Boiotia (e.g., Thebes), it was approved of and sometimes celebrated.<ref>cf. Dover, 1989; Halperin, 1990</ref>   

Lesbian passion, as termed by the Greeks, is not seen as obtaining the same social sanction as pederasty. It is noted that Greek mythology offers no legends of the goddesses parallel to the homosexual acts between the the male Greek gods. In the Amores of Lucian (an Assyrian rhetorician,   125- approx. 180), the character  Charicles, who supports the cause of normal heterosexual passion, warns,

Lesbian passion, as termed by the Greeks, is not seen as obtaining the same social sanction as pederasty. It is noted that Greek mythology offers no legends of the goddesses parallel to the homosexual acts between the the male Greek gods. In Amores 28, Charicles states that it would be better for a women to invade the dominion of male wantonness (homosexuality) than for men to become effeminate, and also warns of lesbianism: ''If you concede homosexual love to males, you must in justice grant the same to females; you will have to sanction carnal intercourse between them; monstrous instruments of lust will have to be permitted, in order that their sexual congress may be carried out; that obscene vocable, tribad, which so rarely offends our ears--I blush to utter it--will become rampant, and Philænis will spread androgynous orgies throughout our harems.'' <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=sclZnr2SUIgC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=Amores+of+Lucian,+Charicles&source=bl&ots=wZNTllKdeA&sig=vh6J9B9uPzFXES6yaoyAYfwPGOg&hl=en&ei=LxYfStb2IsXMlQeZuqXFBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=25#PPA113,M1 After Paul left Corinth, by Bruce W. Winter]</ref>  

 

"If you concede homosexual love to males, you must in justice grant the same to females; you will have to sanction carnal intercourse between them; monstrous instruments of lust will have to be permitted, in order that their sexual congress may be carried out; that obscene vocable, tribad, which so rarely offends our ears--I blush to utter it--will become rampant, and Philænis will spread androgynous orgies throughout our harems."

 

In Amores 28, one of Lucians characters states that it would be better for a women to invade the dominion of male wantonness (homosexuality) than for men to become effeminate.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=sclZnr2SUIgC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=Amores+of+Lucian,+Charicles&source=bl&ots=wZNTllKdeA&sig=vh6J9B9uPzFXES6yaoyAYfwPGOg&hl=en&ei=LxYfStb2IsXMlQeZuqXFBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=25#PPA113,M1 After Paul left Corinth, by Bruce W. Winter]</ref>  

In Rome homosexuality was also evident, and many Emperors were the most notorious examples of such. Juvenal (60-140 A.D.) and Martial (c. 40-102 A.D.) wrote of formal marriage unions between homosexuals. Some moral philosophers around the time of the apostle Paul questioned the merits of homosexual behaviors. Seneca (4 B.C-65 A.D.), a statesmen and tutor to the homosexual emperor Nero, reproved homosexual exploitation, such which which forced a slave to shave his beard, and dress and behave as a women,<ref>Moral epistles 47.7-8</ref> though Nero himself castrated a boy, and dressed him as female and married him, after killing his wife.<ref>Suetonius "Nero," XVIII-XVIX De Vita Caeasarum; Dio Cassius, LXII, xvii</ref> Dio Chrysostom (A.D. 40) likewise condemned such exploitation, and commended "natural intercourse" and union of the male and female."<ref>Discourse, 7.133, 135; 151-52; 21:6-10; 77/78.36</ref> Later, in 226 B.C., the Lex Scantinia (149 B.C.) is understood to have penalized homosexual practice.

===Homosexuality in Rome===

Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BC to AD 50). Jewish philosopher, theologian, and contemporary of Jesus and Paul, writing on the life of Abraham, states,

In Rome homosexuality was also evident, and many Emperors were the most notorious examples of such. Juvenal (60-140 A.D.) and Martial (c. 40-102 A.D.) wrote of formal marriage unions between homosexuals. Some moral philosophers around the time of the apostle Paul questioned the merits of homosexual behaviors. Seneca (4 B.C-65 A.D.), a statesmen and tutor to the homosexual emperor Nero, reproved homosexual exploitation, such which which forced a slave to shave his beard, and dress and behave as a women,<ref>Moral epistles 47.7-8</ref> though Nero himself castrated a boy, and dressed him as female and married him, after killing his wife.<ref>Suetonius "Nero," XVIII-XVIX De Vita Caeasarum; Dio Cassius, LXII, xvii</ref> Dio Chrysostom (A.D. 40) likewise condemned such exploitation, and commended ''natural intercourse" and union of the male and female.''<ref>Discourse, 7.133, 135; 151-52; 21:6-10; 77/78.36</ref> Later, in 226 B.C., the Lex Scantinia (149 B.C.) is understood to have penalized homosexual practice.

Many see Rome realizing a deleterious change in aspects of social morality beginning in the second century B.C, due to the influence and adaptation of "Asiatic luxury and Greek manners", including homosexuality, resulting in a "moral crises from which she never recovered (historian D. Earl)<ref>Young, Homosexuality, p. 153</ref>

Many see Rome realizing a deleterious change in aspects of social morality beginning in the second century B.C, due to the influence and adaptation of "Asiatic luxury and Greek manners", including homosexuality, resulting in a "moral crises from which she never recovered (historian D. Earl)<ref>Young, Homosexuality, p. 153</ref>